Quesada among the five best in Continental Chess

Havana, May 29 (JIT).- Luis Ernesto Quesada's fifth place appears as the most outstanding performance by a Cuban in the Absolute Continental Chess Championship of the Americas 2024, after six of the 11 rounds scheduled in the Colombian city from Medellin.

The Avilanian sealed the double round held this Monday with a win and a draw, results that kept him close to the leading group. The success was achieved against Fabian Vivas, before signing peace with the Colombian Sergio Barrientos, one of the highest-level men among those who animate the contest.

Thanks to that performance, the current Cuban champion reached five points to be just half a line behind the four players anchored at the top: the Americans Jeffery Xiong and Gregory Kaidanov, the Chilean Cristóbal Henríquez and the Peruvian Terry Renato.

That group will play the most interesting games of the seventh round, when the northerners take on a duel with Xiong carrying the white pieces, an advantage that Henríquez will still enjoy against Terry.

As for the rest of the Island's exponents, Lelys Martínez also has five points, but occupies 11th place by tiebreaker. The Santiago native added victory and a draw this Monday, against the Chilean Matías Jaque and the host David Arenas, respectively.

Omar Almeida from the capital ended up less happy after matching his crosses with the Argentine Faustino Oro and the Peruvian Iván Soriano, results that left him with 4.5 lines and placed on the 25th step.

Four steps below appears the also Cuban Daniel Hidalgo, who completed his 4.5 points after signing armistices with the Colombian born in Cuba, Roberto García, and Puerto Rican Edgardo Almedina.

Cuban duels in the seventh round:

Luis Ernesto-Julio César Díaz (MEX)

Lelys-Josue Araujo (DOM)

Almeida-Carlos Juárez (GUA)

Hidalgo-Georg Meier (URU)